The Wine Maker Series 10 - Beaujolais Nouveau 2008: Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!

On every 3rd Thursday of November, it comes the joyous French national event of “Beaujolais Nouveau”, a day for the formal release of the new vintage of Beaujolais.

Beaujolais is a French Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) wine.  There are a variety of 12 appellations or approved labels in the Beaujolais.

The 12 Beaujolais Appellations

• Beaujolais is written with an “S” because there are 12 of them.
  No, Beaujolais isn’t only Beaujolais Nouveau. And, even if this is the most famous ambassador of the Pays Beaujolais, there is no reason to forget the other appellations. The ’s’ at the end of Beaujolais is because there are 12 of them.
• Beaujolais
  This appellation spreads over the largest area. Par of the wine produced there is enjoyed all over the world in November as Beaujolais Nouveau.
• Beaujolais Villages
  The vines for these wines grow in 38 communes make up 25% of the total wine production in Beaujolais. These wines are also sold as Beaujolais Villages Nouveau.
• The Beaujolais Crus
  Brouilly, Chénas, Chiroubles, Côte-de-Brouilly, Fleurie, Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin à Vent, Régnié, and Saint Amour and the 10 Beaujolais Crus that are the jewels in Beaujolais’ crown. It’s well worth the wait if you leave them in the bottle for a few years. Connoisseurs wait for the spring following the harvest before tasting them. They wait for the Beaujolais Crus to have “done their Easter duty” (fait leurs Pâques) as the winemakers say. This means that the Crus have reached maturity and can be appreciated at their full value.

With the arrangements from the Hip Life Club Hong Kong, we will be celebrating the Beaujolais Nouveau 2008 on 22 November 2008 (Sat) night, same as all the wine lovers around the world: in local French as well as all countries of the world.

During our Beaujolais Nouveau 2008 celebration on 22 Nov 2008, we are also going to meet with the wine maker of Domaine de la Madone, a serious Beaujolais wine maker.

Domaine de la Madone’s wine making method is assembling that of Burgundy,  rather than traditional Beaujolais, where carbonic maceration is widely used to reduce tanin level.  The wine maker targets to make their wines “bigger wines than the traditional Beaujolais …” “to prove to many people that we can make concentrated wines than Beaujolais-Villages is known for.”

By treating the Gamay grapes in the same way as Pinot Noir, the result of the domaine’s efforts are bigger, richer, more substantial wines that taste somewhat like Pinot Noir, but with an uncommon power and intensity.

Here are the wines we are going to celebrate on 22 Nov 2008 (Sat) , among which, the Chardonnay is a rare one, i.e. the “White Beaujolais”:
Domaine de la Madone Beaujolais-Villages Rosé 2008 (Gamay)
Domaine de la Madone Beaujolais-Villages Blanc 2005 (Chardonnay)
Domaine de la Madone Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2008 (Gamay)
Domaine de la Madone Beaujolais-Villages Cuvée Tradition 2006 (Gamay)
Domaine de la Madone Beaujolais-Villages Cuvée Fûts de Chêne’ 2005 (Gamay)
Domaine de la Madone Beaujolais-Villages Cuvée Jean Baptiste 2005 (Gamay)

To match with this celebration, we will be tasting the cheerful Beaujolais wines at a hip and semi-open door environment with wine matching cannapes. This is an annual event that every wine lover should not miss.

Beaujolais Nouveau 2008
- Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!

For any enquiries, pls contact us.

Posted by sophie on November 5th, 2008 filed in 品酒聚會, Wine Tasting